Top 6 Western American Sandwiches

French dip is a Californian sandwich that, despite its name, doesn't have much to do with France, except for the fact that it is served au jus, a French expression meaning with juice/broth. The sandwich consists of thinly sliced roast beef (alternatively, roast pork, leg of lamb, turkey, or ham), black pepper, mustard, and horseradish on a long white French roll (or a baguette) that has been dipped into pan juices or gravy. Sometimes, Swiss, American, Monterey Jack, or blue cheese is added to further enhance its flavors. The usual accompaniments include coleslaw, potato, and macaroni salad, hard-boiled eggs, sweet or sour pickles, black olives, and yellow chile peppers. The sandwich was invented by Philippe Mathieu, the owner of an L.A.-based deli and sandwich shop called Philippe the Original, who unintentionally dropped the sandwich into a roasting pan full of drippings and served it to a hungry policeman. The policeman returned the next day and brought his friends along to try this new delicacy, and the French dip sandwich was born. Today, it is so popular that it has spread across the country, all the way over to beef-mad cities such as Montreal, New York, Toronto, and Wichita.Expand

Monte Cristo is a sweet-and-savory battered sandwich filled with sliced ham, turkey, and Swiss cheese, then fried until crisp, dusted with powdered sugar, and served with fruit preserves. Thick slices of sturdy white bread are needed to make the sandwich. Thinly sliced roast turkey, cured ham, and firm Swiss cheese are stacked evenly between the bread slices. The whole sandwich is pressed down with a heavy weight to flatten it and keep the layers from separating during cooking. It is then completely coated in a batter made with whisked whole eggs, milk, and a pinch of salt. The battered sandwich is cooked either in a hot skillet with melted butter or in a deep vat of hot neutral oil. As it cooks, the egg coating forms a golden, crisp shell on the outside, while the heat inside melts the cheese and warms the sliced meats. Some omit the turkey entirely and use only thick slices of cured pork. A fully savory version skips the powdered sugar and fruit jam, replacing them with sharp Dijon mustard for dipping and a side of sour dill pickles. The cooking method also creates two distinct versions. Pan-frying produces a flatter, egg-soaked exterior, while deep-frying the entire battered sandwich creates a thicker, more even crust that seals the meat inside. The exact origins of the name point to Southern California in the mid-20th century. Printed menus in Los Angeles, including Gordon’s restaurant, listed the sandwich in the 1930s. It developed as a local adaptation of older toasted meat-and-cheese sandwiches, designed to use leftover roast meats in a very filling, high-calorie form. The sandwich became widely known in 1966, when the Blue Bayou restaurant inside Disneyland added it permanently to its menu and began serving it in large quantities to thousands of park visitors each day. Monte Cristo is served piping hot, usually cut cleanly into halves or quarters. A thick, snowy layer of powdered sugar covers the fried crust. A small bowl of strawberry, raspberry, or red currant jam is placed beside the plate, serving as a sweet-and-tart dipping sauce that cuts through the richness of the fried sandwich. Because the battered bread is soft, greasy, and heavy, it is usually eaten with a knife and fork rather than picked up by hand.Expand

Avocado toast is a dish consisting of a piece of toasted bread topped with a combination of mashed avocados, salt, pepper, and (sometimes) citrus juice. There are many varieties of this dish, so it can be enriched with ingredients such as salmon, tomatoes, onions, eggs, garlic, cheese, olive oil, or red pepper flakes. Although the dish is quite simple and straightforward, the location of its origin is not – some claim that it is an Australian invention, while others proclaim that Los Angeles is the place where it was born. Regardless of its origin, avocado toast started its modern-day revival on Instagram, and it has been trending across the globe ever since.Expand

Patty melt is an sandwich consisting of Swiss cheese and an onion-topped hamburger patty between slices of grilled rye bread. The flavorful sandwich was invented in California in the late 1940s by Tiny Naylor, the owner of Biff's and Tiny Naylor restaurants. It is believed that the dish served as an inspiration for the famous tuna melt, using tuna as a substitute for the hamburger patty. Most often, patty melt is served with French fries, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, and a Thousand Island dressing on the side. Today, it can be found in many diners and fast-food restaurants across the country.Expand

Also known as Western sandwich, Denver sandwich is a combination of two slices of bread and a Denver omelette in between. The omelette is traditionally made with scrambled eggs, onions, ham, and green peppers. Although there are many claims about its origin, the famous food writer James Beard believes that it was invented by Chinese chefs who used to cook for railroad gangs in the 19th and the 20th centuries, and the sandwich probably evolved from a dish known as egg foo young.Expand

Fool's Gold Loaf is an oversized sandwich made from an entire hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with peanut butter, fruit preserves, and about a pound of crisp bacon. Created in Colorado in the 1970s, it became famous through its association with Elvis Presley. The sandwich originated at the Colorado Mine Company, a restaurant in Glendale, Colorado, just outside Denver. The restaurant had a mining theme, which inspired the name Fool's Gold. Owners Buck and Cindy Scott are generally credited with its creation, while cook Nick Andurlakis also helped develop and serve the sandwich. The original was deliberately extravagant. A large loaf of white bread, often described as French or sourdough-style bread, was coated with butter or margarine and warmed in the oven until the crust was lightly browned. The loaf was then split lengthwise, and much of the soft interior was removed to make room for the filling. About a pound of bacon was fried until crisp and drained. The hollowed loaf was spread generously with an entire jar of creamy peanut butter and an entire jar of fruit preserves, then packed with the bacon and closed again. Accounts differ on the original preserves: grape jelly is frequently given in recipes for Fool's Gold Loaf, while people connected with the Colorado Mine Company have described the restaurant's version as using blueberry preserves. Either way, the defining combination is the same—sweet fruit, salty bacon, and rich peanut butter inside a warm loaf of bread. Despite its size, Fool's Gold Loaf was originally sold as a single sandwich rather than as an ordinary sliced sandwich meant for several people. Modern recreations are often cut into portions simply because a whole loaf is difficult to handle and extremely filling. Estimates commonly place the complete sandwich at several thousand calories. Its fame comes largely from Elvis Presley. He first encountered Fool's Gold Loaf during a visit to Colorado and became fond of it. On February 1, 1976, while at Graceland in Memphis, Presley decided he wanted the sandwich again and flew to Colorado aboard his private Convair 880, the Lisa Marie. The plane landed at Stapleton Airport in Denver in the early hours of the morning. Staff from the Colorado Mine Company brought a large batch of freshly made Fool's Gold Loaves directly to the airport, allowing Presley and his companions to eat them without leaving the airport. The group served the sandwiches with champagne and Perrier before flying back to Memphis. Different accounts give different numbers for how many loaves were delivered, but the unusual overnight trip became the story that made the sandwich famous. The Fool's Gold Loaf is sometimes confused with the better-known "Elvis sandwich" made with peanut butter, banana, and sometimes bacon. They are separate sandwiches. Banana was not a defining ingredient of the Fool's Gold Loaf, whose characteristic filling is peanut butter, fruit preserves and bacon. Today, Fool's Gold Loaf is remembered as one of the most extravagant sandwiches associated with American pop culture. Expand